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1529: Cathedral
of St Stephen, Brisbane, Australia

Mystery Worshipper:
Ultracrepidarian.The church:Cathedral
of St Stephen, Brisbane, Australia.Denomination:Roman Catholic,
Archdiocese
of Brisbane.The building:
St Stephen's is a stone Gothic Revival cathedral which was built
in several stages throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The
interior is marked by its stark and angular design, particularly
visible in the altar, cathedra and ambo, which contrasts with
the ornate exterior of the building.The church:
There appears to be a healthy worshipping community at the Cathedral
– the Ash Wednesday mass was well attended, as was another
weekday mass I went to last year. St Stephen's is located in
the centre of Brisbane, and the weekday congregation consists
largely of people working in the city. According to the weekly
newsletter, they are also arranging an outreach to engage Catholics
living in inner-city apartments. The church is very much involved
in social justice activities. It also plays host to a variety
of musical performances throughout the year.The neighbourhood: St Stephen's is right in the middle of the city, across the road from the GPO. The church owns a large area of land (by inner-city standards) and the cathedral is surrounded by church buildings including a chapel, a bookshop and various administration buildings. The central positioning of the cathedral means that it is able to attract a large and varied congregation, even on weekdays.The cast:
The Very Revd Kenneth Howell, dean, celebrated and preached.The date & time:
Ash Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 10.00am.

What was the name of the service?
Mass with the Imposition of Ashes.

How full was the building?
Mostly full to start with and new people kept arriving throughout the service.

Did anyone welcome you personally?
No. I collected an order of service from the table near the door and found myself a seat.

Was your pew comfortable?
St Stephen's doesn't have pews, but instead there are interlocked
wooden chairs arranged in rows of about a dozen. The seats are
quite hard, but the service wasn't long enough for them to become
uncomfortable.

How would you describe the pre-service
atmosphere?
Quiet and reverential. The organist started playing softly ten
minutes before the service began. There was a constant stream
of people into the cathedral in the minutes leading up to the
service, but they quietly found seats without disturbing those
already inside.

What were the exact opening words of the
service?
"Good morning. Your hymn books can be found on the ledge
in the seat in front of you."

What books did the congregation use during the
service?
A hymn book, Gather Australia. The Bible readings were
printed on the order of service.

What musical instruments
were played?
Organ. The organ is very recent, having been completed in 2000
as part of the Jubilee celebrations. It's a very impressive
instrument and it was used to good effect during the service.
There was also a cantor who led the hymns and sang the verses
of the psalm.

Did anything distract
you?
Despite the fact that they were trying to be unobtrusive, I
found the continual movement of people in and out of the cathedral
a bit distracting. Also, various noises filtered in from the
city outside, including some loud laughing after the sermon.
Lastly, I found it difficult to work out what we were singing
at times – everybody except me seemed to know the psalm response
and I eventually worked it out, but I couldn't find it written
down anywhere.

Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or
what?
The worship was controlled and dignified, but not overly dressed-up.
There was a small procession and the celebrant and one assistant
were vested, but it wasn't a smells-and-bells service. "Relaxed"
is the word I'd use. After going through the notices at the
end of the service, the celebrant wished us all a happy Lent,
which amused me. It was all over in under an hour.

Exactly how long was the sermon?
4 minutes.

On a scale of 1-10, how
good was the preacher?
8  Dean Howell spoke clearly and with an engaging and
relaxed style. It was obvious that he preaches at the cathedral
regularly. His points were well chosen, well articulated, and
tied into the Bible readings – I'm impressed that he managed
to do it all in under five minutes.

In a nutshell, what was
the sermon about?
He began with the analogy of tuning a radio. Sometimes things
happen which bump the tuning knob without us noticing and so
we don't hear the music as clearly as we could if we took the
time to readjust the tuning. In the same way, Lent is a time
for us to step back and tune back in to God.

Which part of the service was like being in
heaven?
In addition to the excellent sermon, I particularly enjoyed the singing by the cantor. She had a beautiful voice and it was amplified perfectly to fill the cathedral.

And which part was like being in... er... the other place?
There was some minor chaos in lining up for the imposition of
ashes. The lines started forming at the front of the cathedral
as I would have expected, but then people from the back of the
cathedral started moving forward. As one in the middle, I started
to worry that I might miss out. In the end, it all got sorted,
but I don't know why the imposition of ashes was so much more
disorganised than the communion. Also, I found it very difficult
to work out the psalm and some of the spoken responses. The
differences between Catholic usage and what I'm more accustomed
to as a Protestant made me feel somewhat ignorant. It would
have been helpful to have the responses included in the service
handout.

What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost?
The cathedral emptied almost immediately as everyone headed back off to work. Since nobody else was hanging around outside, I headed down to the bookshop and did some browsing.

How would you describe the after-service
coffee?
Non-existent.

How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)?
7  Even though I'm not Catholic, the quality of the preaching
and the reverent-but-not-uptight nature of the worship will
draw me back to more weekday services. Sadly, the organist and
cantor are only there on feast days.

Did the service make you feel glad to be a
Christian?
Yes. It was great to pause, retune and think about reconnecting with God in Lent.

What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time?
"Have a happy Lent." Although I found the comment
funny, it tied in nicely with the sermon where we were reminded
that Lent is a time for rediscovering God through fasting and
charity and that the rediscovery is something in which to rejoice.

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